Behind the Garden Gate

Monday, August 12, 2013

Taking your reader somewhere new

More
and more lately I’m seeing stories set in either—one: a bar, diner,
restaurant, coffeeshop (insert type of eating/drinking establishment
here); or at a school or at the church at the wedding Susie is about to
run out on. The plotlines ultimately spread out and move on their own,
but far too many--maybe one third--of the aforementioned settings come
across my desk.

What
do I do? I write to the author and ask/beg/implore her to change it.
Why? Because it's too common. Too been there done that.Yes, you might
argue that readers like familiarity. They like to be in a place where
they can identify the surroundings or feel the ambiance, but why not
give them new sensations, new emotions? Put your readers in new
situations where they can explore their own emotions and reactions.

I'm
not saying you should blow up something or make one of your characters
into a fire-breathing dragon. I'm saying that DIFFERENT can happen
anywhere, anytime--in any type of story, not just romance. It doesn't
have to be momentous or life-threatening. What's cooler than for the
reader to join your heroine as she's standing on a girder atop a new
highrise (in her job as inspector or construction worker), or the hero
as he's whooshing down a ski slope (dodging tumbling children or an
enamored elderly woman)? Or she's attempting to put a new fanbelt in her
car and opening the oil pan instead, or he's relaxing on a nude beach
on a dare by his best friend? The point I'm making is to stretch
yourself. Don't "write what you know", get out there and learn something
new, THEN present it to your readers. Guaranteed they'll thank you.

Oh
yes, you won't believe the great time you'll have researching. I've
never found a company that didn't LOVE helping authors out. They take us
on ride-alongs and tell personal stories. They provide free tours. AND
they often provide book signing venues! What can be better than that!